A day after missing out on the U.S. Olympic team, Ryan had his chance to vent — specifically, about Burke's comments about him. They came in Scott Burnside's all-access piece about the selection, and they were not pretty.

Ryan, understandably, is mad.

"They were direct quotes. It's unfortunate they feel that way. They've got to form a team," Ryan said, per Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun. "I guess to a certain degree you have to respect it. You don't have to agree with it, right? I certainly don't. They could have just cut me (laughs).

"Actually I almost feel degraded when it comes out like that. It is what it is. That's their decision and that's how they feel about me. I will remember it and use it as motivation. That's all you can really do."

Ryan said he felt what Burke had to say about his intensity was "gutless." #Sens

Burke, the director of player personnel for Team USA, was Ryan's most vocal detractor in Burnside's piece. The nicest thing he had to say about the four-time 30-goal scorer — who he drafted with the Anaheim Ducks, by the way — was that "he won't be intimidated."

Here was the other stuff:

— "He's a passive guy."

— "He is not intense. That word is not in his vocabulary. It's never going to be in his vocabulary. He can't spell intense."

— "I should have taken (Jack Johnson in the 2005 draft). No way he lets us down for 12 days."

That's not quite gutless; it's just weird. Bobby Ryan is one of the best few American-born goal-scorers on the planet. He should be on the Olympic team, full stop, and he's not.